Psychological research is "empirical," which means we begin by observing actual behavior.
Researchers try to keep their observations objective; we "measure" our observations.
Observational research focuses on describing behavior.
Correlational research measures different factors and
helps researchers use one variable to make predictions about a second variable.
Experimental research manipulates one factor, the independent variable,
to see if it causes changes on another factor, the dependent variable.
Psychological research uses many different means to try to understand behavior.